Heaven's Earth
by Yincira
Summary: In the wake of the fulfilled prophecy, Zaha and Shiru are left as ruling angels of the saint and demon elements, and with that comes the responsibility of dealing their war, with one apathetic deity and one missing deity, and those who believe the status quo should be preserved at all costs. ZxS, MxR.
1. The Guardian Angel Of Darkness

**· · · · · · ·**

"Once upon a time, the Mon Colle Knights were ready to ... no no, that doesn't sound right. We're _always_ ready for adventure, not just once."

With a sigh Rokuna leaned back in the chair, gazing out of the plane's window. Nothing but indistinct blue flared across the deep dark before her, she found no inspiration there. Where was the Narrator when he was most needed? That weird voice that seemed to speak to some incorporeal audience, she had always thought it was some bored spirit tagging along with them. Hopefully he hadn't remained behind in the Black Hole.

Right, that was another thing for her checklist of _Things To Do In Heaven_. Quickly, she scribbled it down and laid it back in her diary. From now on, she would document everything done and to be done, starting with Elysium — if she could find the right start for this story in time. Perhaps just laying out the basics?

This would be their first informal visit to heaven and she hoped to explore it more thoroughly this time. A library certainly could be found, the constellations could be met in person, heavenly cuisine was said to be excellent, she had heard of fairy dragons — _squeeee_ — and off course, there was the ceremony to initiate the Terror Dragon cub. The world was back to starting quests with wonder rather than nightmares, even if it missed its Narrator ... and might not stay so wondrous for long.

There was one thing she hadn't written on her list. The last time she had been in Elysium was shortly after having received the first blow of her sixth sense, so all she had felt was a disjointed haze. Now that she was more accustomed to her power, she was curious to heaven's aura and a newly born pessimistic side warned her of disappointment.

"Rokuna~chan, are you okay?" Mondo's concerned voice snapped her out of herself.

"Don't worry, Mon~chan. The void here is peaceful, I rather like it."

"Thank goodness, I was afraid you might be bothered by the energy from the wormhole or something," he said with a relieved smile.

She shook her head. "Nah, I was just thinking about what we're going to do from now on."

"We're the Mon Colle Knights _and_ the Saint Star Children, so we can do it, whatever it takes!"

He had said variants of this ever since they had returned from Pandæmonium, maybe a little excessively. Mondo's infectiously happy mood was overwhelming and a little suffocating, but far from unpleasant. It helped her, much like being drunk without risk of hangovers. Still, she had to say it : "If only we knew where to start?"

"Easy! We start right where we start!" Mondo put strength to his words by speeding up the Stove Dragon to full power.

Less of a secret now, Riva Sanctuary was host to the quest. The Shining Flame Angel had not joined the search herself, but as before she would be a guardian to the items. Ruth had made it clear just how easy it was to hitch along the other universe and steal something, after all.

Mondo landed the Stove Dragon a little too roughly, breaking a row of the fragile crystals. The world came back to Rokuna's senses and she needed a moment to adjust. Okay, maybe there was a little bit of a hangover effect ...

She heard Mondo say something, but before she had her senses back together and could respond, he already was out of the plane. Her father bowed over the back of her seat and said, "You ready, Rokuna?"

Regal and stoic, the Shining Flame Angel stepped out of her ruby castle to greet Mondo. By the time Rokuna and Ichirobei caught up, the boy just finished an inquiry : "That's why we've gotta know how to approach the Elysian Council. I'd rather not offend another person."

Lazai nodded at the newly arrived, then told Mondo, "I can only advise to stay true to yourself, this has always been your leading light."

"No disrespect, Shining Flame Angel~san, but perhaps a good first step would be if you no longer used light as a metaphor for good things. It's pretty racist, what with all that's happened recently," Mondo said.

"Very well then," the angel said. "On second thought, I have some specific advice after all. Do not lecture superiors who did not ask for your criticism. If you want the Elysian Council to respect you so they may listen, start slowly."

"Maybe we ought to study some angelic protocol while we're at it ..." Ichirobei wondered.

"Request a book on it in the Elysian library. Now, let us please proceed. Zaha and Shiru are already in Elysium. I requested permission of Elysium for your additional guests and they granted it. Who many you call for?"

"Just four, is that alright?" Mondo said.

A simple nod, then the angel summoner her own dragon. The massive beast emerged from a red portal, landed clumsily and ruined some more crystals, much to the unvoiced irritation of the angel.

Rokuna folded her hands and focused on the far away Luke, who would be more likely to receive the message than chaotic little Beginner. Sure enough, it did not take long before a white portal opened behind her, in the space between the low stairs and the dragon.

Luke jumped out first and held out a hand to Beginner, who failed to notice in her excitement to visit the legendary Riva Sanctuary. She threw a quick and cheery hello to the fire angel and almost darted off to look at a particularly shiny crystal, but a giant red snout blocked her way.

"Oh my, energetic as always, no? Don't you have somewhere else to go?" he said as he used his snout to gently push Beginner back to the group.

"Oh, right, are we late already~mon?"

"Not yet," said Lazai. "Elysium has yet to succeed in summoning a dark river, but I would not take this as impetus for delay. It should be any time now."

Luke crossed his arms and said, "Can we expect trouble from that?"

"No. We are more likely to experience misbehaving dragons than technical complications." With that, Lazai cast up a sharp glance to the Fire Dragon.

"Oh come on! I wasn't that bad! The Earth Dragon crumbled the dome and the Storm Dragon electrocuted everyone. I only spit some fire into someone's face!"

A few uneasy laughs were followed by a silence that demanded crickets, but didn't get any.

"How about the water dragon~mon?" Beginner asked, blissfully ignorant of just how dangerous fire can be when the rule of Moé doesn't protect someone.

"She is from the time before angels ruled the elements, a time when dragons were solemn gods themselves," Lazai said, sadly aware her dragon's mishaps having improved only marginally with time.

"Why so much fuss about master dragons~mon? As the Elementals Angels, can't you summon _any_ dragon you want~mon?"

"It is through these dragons that we can govern other elements despite being rooted in the Holy Element. The second benefit is that as we are not all that strong, the dragons are our primary means of engaging in combat."

"Then why does Zaha need a dragon at all~mon?"

"Child, do you realize how powerful a symbol can be? It can inspire and unite, it can build faith merely by existing, even if it does not make sense in and of itself."

"Yes! I get it~mon!" Beginner squeaked, balling her fists up happily. "So this whole ceremony is to make things all officially symboly~mon! Anyway, guys, can I try summoning Chantal and Pegasus~mon? Please~mon?"

Luke leaned a little closer to Rokuna and whispered, "That doesn't really answer the question why that ceremony is needed. Is that contract worth pissing off zealots who might take offense to all that demon magic in their heaven?"

Rokuna nodded. "You're right, there's more to it." She folded her hands for a moment to speak to Lazai.

"So?"

"More dakka for us. We're gonna need it."

**· · · · · · ·**

Passing the pale houses of heaven quickly, Shiru cut through a silence most unusual for heaven. Here and there she saw a frightened face looking out to the west, heard a whisper and the murmur of a thousand prayers. Their fear was understandable, she herself might once have felt it. The might of this nation came from its unshaken foundation, the eternal reliance on what was known to work well. Change was always for the worst, so said the Sanhedrin.

The farther she flew, the more the drone of life was replaced by an almost melodious hum. The harvest plateaus blocked her sight, but she could hear and feel from hence it came. Like an irregular pulse, a heartbeat resonated from the pillar that pierced the lowest clouds. Her knowledge of the approaching ritual was limited to lexicon and spoken word, none of them mentioned such a sound. Change had come to heaven, indeed.

With care she descended until close above the treacherous clouds, so deep in the canyons that even to her eyes the high asphodels fields were missing. Yet the pulse still originated from deeper and she came no closer to an answer.

As she ascended, though, it seemed the once monochromatic beige hue was a little more daring here and today, showing reds and purples in the shadows.

Rather curious too, but perhaps it was just the presence of the four master dragons.

Flying so, she approached the ritual's location from below. She could see the four dragons first, just their heads between the pillars. Sharp red, moss green, teal with rainbow wings and dark purple. No, it was not like them.

Quickening her flight, she ascended to where she knew the terrace for visitors was.

She wasn't looking up, still interested in the change of the dust, but she heard it fall. Halting quickly and moving back, she caught the tiny metal with her hand.

"Mondo Ohya, we're in heaven! Don't you have the slightest idea how to behave?" a familiar voice yelled from above. Luke.

"It's not like it's going to hit anyone down there," Mondo said, somewhat apologetically.

"That's a minicamera, actually. So we can find out what's down there," professor Hiiragi added.

Shiru had a good guess this was the Human World's equivalent of a crystal ball : one side contained a glass lens. She smiled at it, then looked into the depth. Finding no one flying lower, she sent it on its way.

When she arrived on the plateau, she greeted, "Well met, all. The past has known several divine scientists trying to solve the mysterious depths, but the spheres all broke regardless of what protection they spun. Maybe your alien device will succeed."

The group turned around to face her.

"Hey, Shiru! Did he hit you?" Luke said eagerly, cutting off any other greeting.

"Not sorry to disappoint you, Luke," she said with a friendly mock.

The other guests were Chantal, Pegasus and Beginner, and naturally Mondo and Rokuna. The boy was off to another side, gate-hopping across the massive complex to drop more of these 'minicameras'. Rokuna was at a distance from them all, at a marble table to help her write in a book.

Shiru stepped up aside of Ichirobei and said, "Hello, professor. If I may ask, did Rokuna say anything when she arrived?"

"Hmm, let me think ... something about not liking certain angelic guests here."

"Nothing about the environment though?"

"Hello, Shiru~san, and nope," Mondo said as he rejoined the group, climbing out of a crayon drawn gate on the floor. "Why, is something wrong?"

"There doesn't seem to be," Shiru said with relief. "Listen, I'll go to Zaha for a moment, but we'll meet again inside. There should be a terrace prepared for you."

The ceremony had always been kept in secret, but now the Divine Council had reasoned that the presence of the Demon Element in heaven could not go unnoticed. Therefore they had announced the ceremony to all ears, sealed the perimeter and invited the most prominent to be a witness. The number was not even that of a Sanhedrin, but as she had expected, still too large for Zaha's ease of mind.

The arches across the pillars were not meant for sitting, so obviously, there he could be found. The two didn't greet each other beyond a smile, but he did reach out a hand to help her find her balance. A rather needless gesture, but its return made her glad.

Barely she had folded her wings or the imp Ruth appeared up before her.

"How much longer?"

Shiru shook her head. "I have no idea, honestly."

"Figures," Ruth muttered.

"Lady Tiamat finally has come, so I heard on my way here. It will take not much longer," Shiru assured him. Turning to Zaha, she saw him only sternly fixed on the darkening distance. No eager anticipation and joy, as she had seen with the Mon Colle Knights and their friends.

"Lark and I used to adopt little monsters every so often," she told Ruth and reminded Zaha, hoping to bring loose a word, a sign that he was not meeting his task with hate. "Let us see this as a way of reviving that tradition?"

"I that would fit ... I'll break open those bricked halls at the observatory. If that cub grows as quickly as Orthros, we're going to need the space."

"Why not adopt the entire demon realm while we're at it?" Ruth said. He was flicked playfully against the wing by Zaha.

"We've already started that, you idiot," Zaha said with a smirk. "And there is our cue."

A creeping gray overtook the clouds and at the domed core of the sanctuary cries broke out.

The far away pillar could flow to any realm and bring to heaven its elemental power. In its final form it birthed a river that meandered through the asphodels fields, under the arches on which the angels waited and finally, into the dome. For today, the river was demonic.

Leading the gray blanket was a sourceless shadow filling the dry riverbed, at the peak of its tide the colossal empress of dragons. In the onsetting darkness, her gray form was more sinister than daylight already painted her as. When her segmented tail curled above the solid shadows, it drew flashes of red lightning. Tiamat had never appeared so at home.

As she moved past the arches, she looked up at the angels so small to her. Her face human, with inhuman eyes that lit green, she nodded at them once without stopping.

Zaha and Shiru waited until she started climbing the dome. Shiru brushed her wing past his in encouragement, then separated from him. Rather would she have stayed at his side, but the ritual would not have it.

A party of six winged angels stood on either side of where the river's entrance. Theirs was an artificial air of pleasantness, netted in superstition and distrust. She stayed at a distance that was both respectful and tactically avoiding of a need to talk.

Only one arch was beyond them, smaller than the others. It served both as a step for Tiamat towards her entrance at the dome's peak and the gate for the chosen angel to enter with the river.

Once the last of the empress' tail had vanished through the gate at its top, Zaha passed this arch, quicker than he had been told to. He was well beyond when the gate called him a new name in ancient language.

No longer to be known merely as Blackwinged Angel, a broad, empty title shared by many of the past, he now was The Angel Of The Darkest Night.

Shiru saw him slow and hoped he wouldn't read too much into the chosen words. None knew who decided what the summon true name of any given monster would be, but she suspected it was an entity with poor understanding of encouragement and situation. If it had possessed those skills, the title would have been one that would not turn the eyes of the angels here even harder.

When Zaha entered, the white winged angels silently followed. Through a straight passage separate from his path, they arrived in the central hall. Safely behind a circle of guarding pillars, there were six wide terraces, each carved from marble and lines with symbols and illustrations. The terrace of light was always for the angels, each of the others would hold monsters of its intended element, though for centuries now few had stood on these. The days when the angels truly ruled the earths and kings and queens had passed, so what citizens would they invite?

It gave Shiru an odd satisfaction that this meant that the first time another terrace was to be crowded, it was the neglected demon corner. Here were gathered the Mon Colle Knights and their friends, as well as the Four Elemental Angels. With so many wings and a horse, it was rather running out of space to land. Rather than let them go to chaos in rearranging their chairs and tables, she sat down on the railing.

At once she noticed Rokuna's closing her eyes, her hands folded, a second later the girl telepathically contacted her.

"~ Shiru-san, would you like to be there too? He asked for you. I think that perhaps, he wants you to call him out if he errs. ~"

He need not have done so. Easily, Shiru let herself be linked to Zaha's mind. It was only a surface connection, Rokuna told her, though to her it felt intense. Already aware of many more details than others seemed to be, to Shiru this form of perception was as a missing depth to the world. Ruth shared the connection with her and Mondo too, however she realized little of the others beyond Zaha. How Rokuna lived with such deep awareness was harder to understand than the anxiety Zaha felt now.

For what it was worth trying to change, she tried extending her peace to him, but it was her small grains of doubt that Zaha seemed to notice far more. Not to try now was a better course, perhaps.

Zaha took a deep breath and descended from the point he had been told to wait during rehearsals. The circular platform, now surrounded by the dark river, lit up with a violet gate the moment his feet touched upon it. He kept his wings stretched wide, feeling that here gravity was as it worked on the earths.

Tiamat reached forth her massive arms, with ease spanning to either side of the circle. In the shadow of her form Zaha looked lilliputian, eyes unaware of the power within the demon might assume the empress could simply brush him out of life.

Zaha repeated the gesture and conjured a curse gate between his hands. From the point the young Terror Dragon, slowly climbing from Tiamat's hidden realities where her powers had prepared it for the task once more, as she had prepared its ancestor or by another definition, itself. Now this power linked the creature into contract with the Angel Of The Darkest Night.

The seal drew black flames from the river around, a motion to match the invisible contract finding its conclusion.

While Zaha himself was not aware of it yet, Shiru could see how his armor reformed, first regrowing the missing shoulderpad, then overlaying a second across the upper edge : thus none could repeated Reda's trick. His wings too slowly began to alter form, growing a fourth segment and a more eloquent line.

Tiamat muttered words the angels didn't understand, but Zaha and thereby Shiru could hear them.

_"By flowing power of Gaia's motion, as the sealed earth and free waters, as the high sky and distant fire have done before, In unity sang these daemons to the praise of Elohim, they lost their malice and wrath. Upon this hour I grant this living key to the messenger of Dervis."_

Zaha closed his hands around the little dragon and the contract was sealed, until the day of death or betrayal. Like the snap of a twig, as a veil torn loosely from the ark, an underwhelming feeling for the epitome of such a ritual. To him though, it felt like a relief to not be given a heavy weight. It was not until now that he truly saw the dragon as what it was : a frightened, confused little animal, greatly submissive by a heritage and memory of slavery even through its rebirth. Quietly, he told it to stop fearing, it was alright. Crudely as ever, but sincere.

With one strong wingstroke and the cub close, he lifted above the platform and Tiamat withdrew her hands, easing backwards. With their disconnect, the flames died away.

As a child he had broken into this sanctuary see the binding of the Fire Dragon to the Shining Flame Angel. Nothing he had seen, but up until the screams, there had been cheering echoing so wide that it reached even down the drains. Today, it was silent.

That day he had met Lark and Shiru too ... no, this wasn't what they had envisioned for their future at all. Lark had not lived to see a ceremony such as this and Zaha certainly hadn't imagined or desired to be at the center of one.

Tiamat nodded again, this time with a smile, then she turned upward. The river followed her cue to depart and so Zaha left too. Only now he flew did he realize the change about him, using his wings to their full power. More did Shiru not perceive of him, as the link through Rokuna ebbed away.

It was Beginner to be there first when he approached. Eagerly she held open her little arms and begged, "Oh I love little dragons, can I hold her~mon?" she begged. He hesitated a little, but Beginner's huge blue eyes were hard to deny and so she got what she wanted. Barely had he let the cub into her arms, or the Storm Angel hit him on the shoulder.

"Welcome to the club, Zaha!" Ruchiel thundered.

"Congratulations, that went particularly well," Lazai added in her formal, detached tone. As Shiru already knew, Zaha had unlearned how to receive a compliment, found them a waste on him. He averted his face, just a moment, to look at the opposing terrace. It was emptying, but none came here. Shiru could well imagine they believed it inappropriate to fly around and land on the dark side, so she kept silent lest someone would decide to visit them — the guests ought not to be responsible for their hosts' availability for a greeting.

"What's up with this?" Zaha said to the elemental angels now, a thumb pointing at his new shoulderpads.

Yabbashael clapped her hands together happily. "That is nothing up, that is out! Even if it is involuntary, that you are showing a hint of transforming magic means you are on your way to becoming as we four are. In time, you will grow out an extra set of wings to help you channel your realms energy!"

Zaha didn't do much to hide an irritated groan. Noticing this, Shiru soothed : "It might also mean you'll become able to dematerialize your wings at will, it would be a good thing to practice this magic."

"So he's going to be an official elemental angel, right? Was there ever a one before him, for the demon element?" Mondo wondered.

"Yes. More than one, a few of whom still live. You already know Asmodeus," Lazai said. All but the elemental angels themselves looked up in surprise.

"A great mistake to elect one so stubbornly honorable. Eternal dignity and truthfulness is nothing fit for one who rules the elements," Harudha explained.

"So what about Lendir's top angel?" Ruth asked.

"Lendir has none. Elysium sees Sophiel as playing this role, the daughter of the last king of the heavens and the goddess Elysium. She won their regard by high birth and many wings," Harudha continued. "Should you think of Shiru to hold this position, I would agree with you, little imp. Titles or not, she has served that role already. Better to hold your tongue about this to the Elysians, those in particular whom you see on the terrace opposite of us."

"Dangerous words, Wave Mistress," Lazai said.

Harudha just smiled innocently and brushed her hand through her long hair. "Our kin already is dangerous, regardless of what I say."

As if on perfect cue, or perhaps any time would have been been on cue, a chorus of cries rang from outside. Through the gate in the ceiling the Fire Dragon looked in and said, "Guys, you really need to get out and see this!"

Those on the holy terrace had gathered outside, only to find that they could not avoid the darkness. In horror they stared at the horizon, along the river where the baffled dragon empress had stopped as well.

The gray had cradled the sanctuary while the sky above the pillar had become even darker. Even the thinner cloud layer that separated Elysium from the breathless stars had turned ashen. Beyond its farther visible distance lay a massive, solid shadow.

Ruchiel stepped forth with his arms spreading wide, forcing apart the clouds with a mighty burst of wind. Tentatively all waited till his winds separated the sky clear enough to see, seconds slipped by too slow and revealed little by little what few would have expected. A great monster, a cursed mountain risen from the earths or a black hole battle spell, but what they were given was simpler in form and harder to understand.

A black sun.

Even Shiru, normally so at ease with the darkness, could not help but clasp a hand before her mouth. The cry she held back upon realization what she saw was uttered by others.

"What is that?" Luke muttered. He spoke to her, as if she somehow knew, but nothing like this had ever been seen.

The sun expanded the deeper one looked, but turn away your gaze and notice it had not changed at all. Cries silenced and yet another heavy silence stepped in, only to be broken when Lazai dryly remarked, "It seems harmless. Can we proceed now?"

"I don't know, all this evil magic must be —" said a nearby voice, belonging to a high ranked angel whom Shiru recognized as Hadraniel. He met Shiru's gaze for a moment, which she returned with a glare. Offended but silent about it, he continued, "— all this dark magic is certainly going to disrupt the growth of Asphodel, think about what it might do to our harvest! That false sun is an omen!"

Shiru took Zaha's hand. "Lady Lazai is right, it is harmless. It might just disappear once the dragon has left."

"Yes, let's go. Ruth, we're leaving!" Zaha said through gritted teeth.

Beginner pulled one of his feathers, then held up the dragon cub. He took it in his arms and flew through the arched gate once more. The same disembodied voice called out once more : "Angel Of The Darkest Night, now master of the Terror Dragon."

The last segment of the ceremony involved the elemental angel to return to the root of the river and take with them the energy that flowed through it. Lazai raised a hand and signaled the others to follow. Shiru was unsure for a moment whether this included her, but Ruchiel gave her and Ruth a friendly gesture to follow.

Quickly, she turned to Mondo and Rokuna. "If I am not in Riva Sanctuary as you return there, will you please wait for me? I have something to ask you."

"Off course, Shiru~san," Mondo said. "Say goodbye to Zaha in case we don't see him anymore, he always forgets to say bye."

"I will. All you others, be safe on your journey home."

"Oh, I'll take care of that," Luke said.

Then Shiru followed the others, joining them and their dragons above the river, sans the Emperor Earth Dragon; neither swimmer nor flier he returned home early.

Behind Zaha the riverbed became dry as it ought to be, but not quite in the right way. Rather than retreat, it waved out of its shore and into the wild clouds. All corners of heaven seemed to drink up the darkness and the clouds returned to their beige and golden tone, a frame for the black sun. The heartbeat below became calmer and deeper yet, and to Shiru the halo of the black sun pulsed along with it.

Zaha himself was last to notice, as he only saw the full river ahead. Ruchiel's stunned exclamations made him turn and now, he took on a similar expression as the six winged angels still at the dome. Everywhere but the intended road did the flames flow and he panicked. Without so much as asking, he handed the dragon cub to the nearest angel, Lazai, and descended to recall the river.

His command was heeded but not executed as desired. The darkness curled into solid form up to its demon, forming a chaotic array of expanding vines. Roots seeped further into the clouds, burning bushes farther to the sky.

"Zaha, let it be!" Ruchiel called from above. "There's no need to make a scene!"

He didn't hear and continued trying to pull out the darkness, to no avail. When she saw him ready to pull his sword, Shiru dropped down in his way. Her fingers curled into one of his hands and pushed it back, breaking part of his connection to the flames and vines.

"Please, Zaha, worry not. If a black sun can shine in heaven with harm, how much more harm would a few flames amongst the dust do?" she said gently.

"I can't let it go, we don't know what it does! The sun isn't — I know what the black sun means, it has a meaning to be feared in the demon realm! It's causing this!"

She shook her head softly. "Causing what? No more harm than you would. Just see. Just hear. Is what the black sun is prophesied to be really happening?"

Maybe it was more her conviction than his own that caused the change, but he let go. The swirls ate up their black flame flowers and became one with the dust.

At the moment the darkness was out of his reach, six elemental gates shimmered briefly behind the six angels; the gates that were their signature as elemental masters. They had been uncalled for, even Lazai showed a moment of mild surprise at their appearance. For Shiru, it was cause to smile.

"It is as it should be," Shiru whispered to Zaha.

· · · · · · ·

When Rokuna and the others returned to Riva Sanctuary, having spent a long day exploring heaven, she found that Shiru was here indeed. Zaha and Ruth had been teleported back to the observatory, an path now followed by two tired summoner children, an exhausted elf princess and a giddy Pegasus, who wished for the world to be so light as above.

Rokuna and Mondo shared exhaustion with the lot, but as they approached Shiru, she at once promised them it would not take long. She was seated in a small den or perhaps an alcove of crystals, which offered hard seats with soft cushions.

"How was your excursion?" Shiru asked when they sat down with her.

Mondo shrugged. "Kinda boring. Food's good. The professor ot to borrow lots of reading stuff —" Mondo pointed behind him, where Ichirobei was trying to carry an impossible amount of scrolls and books to their airplane. "Some cool weapons too. But this Hadraniel guy never would leave or side or let us explore anything and he kept going on about The Light as if it were some type of deity. I mean, he's not as bad as that Barchiel, but he does talk a lot."

"We didn't see any fairy dragons either," Rokuna said sadly.

"They can be found beyond the outer rim, requesting a guide for that location may take some time. Say, Rokuna, I wanted to ask ... you probably already know."

"Yes, and I can't give any good news. The people I saw in Elysium are not all that thrilled with recent revelations. Earlier today, Lazai~san told me what she fears. Can efforts of peace truly start a war?"

"Not everyone agrees what true peace is," Shiru said softly. "It is how the last war began, but I believe that the heavens as a whole will have less of a problem with it than the Elysians."

"Huh? There are more heavenly residents besides those of Elysium?"

Shiru nodded. "Yes, Mondo. There are several angelic tribes, Elysium is merely the city of the dominant tribe. This all is not what I referred to though. I have a recent memory I would like you two to see. Rokuna, will you please ...?"

She transferred to the girl what she had heard and felt deep below the dustclouds. It caused Rokuna to smile, though she didn't know why. It was merely Shiru's happiness that caused the effect.

"The goddess Elysium of Lendir, after which the nation in heaven's core is named, has been missing for millenniums. I cannot explain what I perceived today, but if it is her, somehow, then we have a sign that we were on the right road. I would rather not give Zaha false hope, so I may be certain I wanted to ask whether you two have noticed anything."

Mondo scratched his cheek. "Outside of — Wait, you had a goddess? I thought angels were monotheistic, at least from what I noticed today. You even have crosses, much like a certain religion in our world."

Shiru was confused for a moment, then Rokuna figured it out. God and gods had the same word in the language of their homeworld, but in the Six Gates World it worked a little different. The gods of the six elements were Those Who Bind The Six Elements As One, while the supreme deity was He Who Causes To Be. They had already come across Pandæmonium in his own city, it was decent reason that Elysium might reappear in the place named after her.

"I can't say I noticed anything being different from the moment I arrived, but then again I don't really know what Elysium was like before recently," Rokuna mused aloud. "If that indeed was Elysium what you noticed today, then I think it's worth finding her. She seems to be on our side."

"Yeah, if we're going to make peace, it would really help to have someone like the goddess of light back us up in front of the Elysian Council!" Mondo added.

"Is that going to speed up getting this peace thing done? Don't forget our quest for the Mon Mon Items, kids!" Ichirobei said. The three looked up to see him gather a few fallen books; Ichirobei had startled when he heard they were considering a quest that wasn't about the items.

"Papa, we always were on a quest to improve the worlds. We're just a little more specific now," Rokuna said.

The professor wrestled for a moment with a book that kept falling off the stack in his arms, only to have them all fall down. At this point, Shiru and Mondo stood up to help him gather them up, but Rokuna was at the end of her sense's strength, so she remained seated. It was one of those rare moments that her father truly stopped and thought about the world, and it weighed heavy.

"If we're going to wait for peace between the Holy and the Demons, we won't see the worlds connected in our lifetimes," Ichirobei muttered, absently holding at his arms as Shiru placed two books and a scroll in them.

"I don't think it has to take that long," Mondo said with inexhaustible determination. "We just need the exact right amount of anvils, drop them at the right place, and now we've got a pretty good idea where to get them, don't we?"

On a whim, Rokuna folded open her album and turned to the start. At the beginning there was still that open spot, before a lengthy execution of the list. There, Rokuna wrote :

_"Once upon a time, the Mon Colle Knights learned the world is not so simple that one can order another to make friends. Many times upon that, they learned just how much more complicated the world is. This is the story that starts with them having lost all their innocence and so also all their ignorance, lost the foolishness but not the hope. Ready to declare war on an idea that has separated two worlds that ought to be one."_

**· · · · · · ·**


	2. The Details Not Quite Told

**· · · · · · ·**

Just an angel without heaven, Rokuna had told Zaha not too long ago. Turns out, angels without heaven was a job position in itself. Though he had heard the Four Elemental Angels referred to as rulers, he had always thought this was just a sign of respect, much like Sophiel was considered a princess while the actual power lay with the Sanhedrin. There were many, many things that Zaha had always thought without _really thinking_ them over. Those things tended to have an appendix.

Right the next day, the (no longer Four) Elemental Angels called a meeting to discuss their new dynamics and what this meant for their realms.

He left Orthros and the cub above, and with Ruth Zaha passed the entrance of the subterranean castle in Liba Sanctuary, descended through wide crystal passages, spotted servants from the corner of his eyes and saw just how much grandeur was hidden here. It was almost as if she had an actual royal court. Ruth couldn't resist and vanished, doubtlessly to explore in depth.

The castle was grown entirely from ruby and other red and orange gems. Transparent pillars supported a roof so far up that Raanan could move around here even in his second form. Basins with white, holy fire were drifting in each hall and provided the light that reflected in all directions through the gemstone. It was dark in here, yet never unclear because the light carried so far. These basins were located on floating rock ... from the cloud islands?

As he looked around sharper, he realized there were some traits of water too in the form of small canals aside of each hall or chamber. The floor of certain rooms he passed was entirely blanked.

Any way to dismiss this all as extravagance on behalf of the Shining Flame Angel was crushed when he arrived in the hall he was told to go. It was a nigh duplicate of the Elysian Sanhedrin.

Ruth popped up again. "Hey Zaha, this place is awesome! I can hardly believe she's got this whole court down here! There's even a spy network — not as good as me, mind you — and living charts and golems and green wind pendulums and telescopes and —"

"Ruth, I get the picture."

"You do? Cause this whole place looks like — oooh, thrones!"

The hall was perhaps miles wide and at its center stood six pillars in crystal colored to match the elements. The thrones at their roots faced inward, forming a circle. As he approached, he could see Tzadkiel and Harudha stand at their center, dwarfed by the thrones alone, if not the pillars already.

Each pillar had a soft glow coming from within that originated in these thrones and they bore symbols and carvings that reflected the elements. Fire and water, opposite of each other, had subtly differing waves : one representing flames, the other flowing water. The earth and sky thrones had symbols in clutters, one for clouds and their winds, the other for earth and its cracks.

Only the light and dark thrones had no resembling symbols. The twists of darkness didn't match the straight rays of light. Even the thrones themselves were different, the dark one spikey and bony, the holy one with smooth edges similar to Elysian buildings. Who ever had designed this hall blatantly subscribed to the war interpretation of Lendir and Dervis's balance.

So much for being a guardian angel by blowing crap.

To Zaha, it felt like he'd just been made aware that what he had been avoiding had been on his shoulders all along and that it had a tail. He landed with the two angels, who stopped talking when they saw him.

"Tzadkiel, Harudha, what is this all supposed to mean?" he snapped, making broad gestures at the thrones.

Tzadkiel scratched behind his head and grinned uncomfortably.

"Well, uhm, this is our court room."

Zaha covered his eyes with a hand and fought to remain calm.

"Dammit, nobody told me I was going to be an actual overlord!"

"Yeah, looks like you were angsting about the wrong thing the entire time," Ruth said with a gleeful tone. "Seriously, you don't need to worry about betraying anyone in a weak moment, you'll have plenty of new and much easier ways to let people down!"

"I _know_," Zaha groaned. He dropped his hand.

"Don't worry, Zaha, you can't possibly be as disastrous as your predecessor. Just take it easy, don't start any wars and it'll be fine," Tzadkiel said with sickening cheer. Zaha repressed an impulse to whack him, or at least shout at him.

"Huh? Asmodeus was a failure but not a disaster. You mean you guys acknowledged Sonneillon or some other?" Ruth asked.

"Sonneillon was our previous Darkness Angel, but it was not us who appointed him and we didn't really—," Harudha said.

"Never mind that! Why didn't you tell me what exactly it means to be an Elemental Angel?"

"Didn't Shiru call you to help the Mon Colle Knights exactly because _we_ couldn't do anything out of those political responsibilities?" Harudha asked, looking at him skeptically.

"That _wasn't_ an excuse? I'll be damned if I ever let political nonsense stop me from saving anyone!"

Tzadkiel sighed, but Harudha smiled lightly. "Well, I do believe we have already proved our policies are subject to change, Zaha. Do not worry, we are not likely to ask you to stand by idly when there is not a very good reason."

As if he'd listen if they ever asked him that. Zaha was about to tell them so when he noticed the atmosphere alter.

If there was one magical resonance that Zaha always recognized, it was Shiru. The ruby colors around them shifted to golden and a touch of green. She entered not long after in the company of Yabbashael and Lazai and appeared just as surprised as Zaha had been.

"You really want us to take these roles already?" she asked when the six joined company.

Wait, what, they hadn't already taken them? Or was accepting the Terror Dragon not mark enough? Pandæmonium acknowledged him too ... just what was this about, did being an Elemental Angel mean something different for everyone? Zaha gritted his teeth and reminded himself to not jump to conclusions again.

"Yes, for as far as certain duties are concerned," Lazai said. "The four of us will train you to the best of our ability."

"I know this looks bad, throne hall and all, but I assure you we're not going to be using this place often. Most of them time, we're playing the part of the hidden overseers, no judging or law making required. We'll leave that to the individual kingdoms, all we do is keep wars from breaking out. It's just that before you can settle down and take things easy with energy streams and animal management, you need to strike up relationships with every tribe of your element," Tzadkiel said with a grin.

Zaha swallowed a swearword.

Shiru held up a hand and said, "With all due respect and placing aside that I have no true backing from Elysium, you just decided to _not_ tell me and Zaha about this before deciding on this?"

"Look, do we really need to state the obvious again? We didn't put you in these roles, it was fate."

"I'm speaking expecting us to play a defined political role. Elysium considers Sophiel the Lendir Elemental Angel and they have made no offer to help either Zaha or me transform. It is clear what their stance is."

"That's why we're not going to tell them that Zaha is taking up the political side of the job or that you are being trained at all."

Shiru closed her eyes for a moment and Zaha badly wanted to know what exactly she was thinking. She seemed to have a better grasp of what went on, at least. She opened her eyes again and calmly said, "Alright, where do we start?"

This was Lazai's cue to launch into a long, long chain of complicated duties, all delivered in such a monotone that Zaha thought she herself was bored with it. He preferred to learn by practice (this was personally directed code for needing time to sort his thoughts out, though he was getting better at catching his mind giving excuses to himself).

Barely a few minutes in, Zaha walked off to his throne, ignored Yabbashael urging that he pay attention.

Like with the rest, there was a stairs leading up to the throne, presumably if anyone wanted to speak in private with any of the rulers. The seating area was on a wide platform atop and looked stony enough. On either side of it were empty basins, where the other thrones hear flames, fog, greenery and streaming water.

Zaha looked at the opposing throne, which was the brightest of the lot, but like his, it did not source any elemental activity. The area between the thrones sported the telltale Six Gates seal and the thrones of light and dark were located of the tips that aligned with the two outer circles. It was like they were given special attention as opposites.

Yeah, well, that was not acceptable.

He drew his sword, flew across the stairs and drove the blade into the rock, carefully calculated to cause just the right explosion. Black fire burst the throne and the chair part was propelled straight up. Sheating his sword, Zaha dove under it and braced his back against it. He smirked when he realized that yes, he could carry this much into the air. That smirk vanished quickly when he nearly lopsided.

While he had the power to keep several tons worth of rock in the air, keeping the cargo in balance was another thing altogether. He couldn't fly entirely horizontal if he wanted to use his arms to keep the thing steady, and the brittle lower side leaned unsteady on his back and armored wings.

Wobbliness was not natural to Zaha, so he had little experience in the way of dealing with this state. He swung around more to any of the other thrones than the one he was trying to reach.

"Zaha, is there a problem?" Lazai asked.

"Yes! This thing is on the wrong side of the circle."

"Put back that throne, you can't do this!" Tzadkiel yelled.

"Yes, I can," he said matter-of-factly as he wobbled another few meters towards the other throne, before having to stop again lest he lose balance.

"Any time now," Yabbashael said.

"This is not acceptable, Zaha! You have to learn to control yourself," Lazai said, still sounding dry.

"Shut up! Weren't you waxing about how great it was we got along not too long ago? Guess what, I'm going to _not _get along with you making a fuss about a tiny seating problem. If I'm going to sit on any thrones, then I'm sitting aside of Shiru. End of discussion!"

"Zaha, just a tiny thing, but that throne's back was part of a supporting pillar," Yabbashael said as she teleported away.

The ceiling came down right after with a thunderous crash.

Zaha threw the the throne off of his back and shot towards Shiru, but before he reached her both of them were teleported clear of the collapsing pillar.

As they flashed back into solid form, he saw the entire Dervis pillar had crumbled and taken along part of the two that flanked it, the Gringul and Ariaolo pillars.

"Well, that's just wonderful, Zaha," Tzadkiel grumbled.

"Oh don't fret, my dear, I can fix this _easily_," Yabbashael said as she dusted herself off, then started to glow softly and raised her hands towards the rubble.

"Well, I suppose we were ready for a redecoration. The circular shape meant half of us won't see the face of who ever we were judging," Lazai said.

"Yabbashael, this plan I'd prefer to be actually worked out _before _you begin," Harudha added quickly.

"Aww, but I already have a great idea!" the girl said, lowering her arms and energy a little. Harudha raised an eyebrow and sternly looked down at her.

"Alright." Yabbashael kept to smoothing out the rubble so there were seven relatively usable seats in the pile of rubble. Two were close together, and Ruth was mightily amused with the tiny throne aside of those. He was the first to sit down. The other four angels followed suit.

Shiru looked puzzled for a moment when she realized they were really going to have their first formal meeting in this state od disrepair, then smiled and took her seat. Zaha sat down last. Now he looked over the mess, the broken floor and damaged pillars, he regretted. As usual.

"Have you ever wondered what happened to all the previous elemental angels, our Shining Flame Angel aside?" Harudha said when all were comfortable.

Zaha had heard some tales but had never cared much. He cast a glance at Ruth, who eagerly said, "Ooh, info dump? Bring it on, let's see how it matches with the Beggar Chain's library!"

"Omniel was the first elemental angel of Lendir, Asmodeus the first of Dervis. Under their rule, the saint and demon realms grew apart, but the war didn't truly start until the second ruler of Dervis, Sonneillon, took the position. After him and Omniel, there haven't been any Lendir and Dervis angels for millenniums."

"We got that so far in our libraries," Ruth said. "Not much though on what happened to Omniel and Sonneillon. Some say Reda was involved in Sonneillon's demise, is that true?"

Lazai nodded, yet said, "No."

"Wha?"

"Sonneillon is defeated but not dead. He was sealed some time after Omniel's defeat. I worked together with Asmodeus and a team of skilled casters. Reda, still was an angel back then, was part of this team."

"He's not dead ... well, damn. That's some news right there. So, Reda's not an Elemental Angel? I know he wasn't one of _you_, but ..."

"No. He was only the political leader in so far as that he possessed the heart of the demon realm. He didn't exactly care for keeping the peace or improving the energy flow. That's one thing that really sets apart what we do from conventional government. We don't govern a state of people, we govern a state of nature and this just happens to sometimes entail kingdoms and tribes.

We let our subjects have their own rules as they seem fit, but we step in when things get out of hand and threaten the energetic balance. We stay as neutral as possible. They can't rebel, because there is nothing to rebel against. No universal laws that conflict with tribal customs, no flawed justice."

"With no court or written laws, how do you suppress anything at all?" Ruth asked.

"We can make things transform by will, for one thing. Large armies? We just shrink down the key forces to the size of a mouse. There's a number of creatures immune to that ability, so we also have instant sleep spells, matchless teleportation, certain healing or drainage powers and so on. It doesn't matter how strong or numerous political dissent is, we can just cancel it out before any confrontation happens. Most of the time, we use this to force a war between tribes to end. Since we have no courts ourselves, rather we stand for the elements themselves, we have no kingdom anyone from within the element can effectively attack. Yes, we have ultimate control, but in return we have no glory or riches.

What Omniel and Sonneillon did was step _beyond_ those boundaries. A lot of those powers are moot when it comes to the demon realm, and an equal number would not get in the way of the holy realm. Omniel got ideas of holy superiority, while Sonneillon believed things needed to be stirred up — violently — to keep balance in the world. That was Sonneillon's way of saying he wanted to be entertained. Omniel claimed virtue, but he wanted the glory."

Shiru sighed. "In other words, we are not only inexperienced, we're walking in the steps of a very poor legacy. Would it be too much to hope the Mon Colle Knights will effect another miracle?"

"The thing with miracles is that they are exceptional because they are rare. Perhaps they will, or perhaps they'll grow old and die while we still struggle to bring peace," Lazai said.

"Let's not get depressive, please," Tzadkiel said. "So far, you two only have to deal with the tribes. I'm sure you'll find that being big and intimidating is going to get you far with the demons, we'll see about Shiru and the holy tribes."

Zaha felt Shiru's arm hook through his, he wasn't sure whether she sought support of offered it. Whatever it was, the gesture stopped him from snapping, and he took a moment to think over what he said next.

"You really have no clue what you're talking about, do you?" Zaha said. "Just because I'm not good at politics doesn't mean I can't recognize how something works. The demon realm's government isn't half as primitive as you seem to think and it's not something_ I _should be messing with."

"Yeah, you four can just keep order by hopping across your realm and dealing with tribes that never meet. It's not gonna work in the demon realm, place is too tightly knit," Ruth added. "On top of that, demon isn't just an element, but a species that spans across five elements, yet they all come to the demon realm cause they've got no home in yours. That makes for a big, complex network to keep everyone from killing themselves over food and land."

An uneasy silence fell.

"I suppose we should work on integrating those demons a little more into our realms," Lazai said eventually.

"That's a start," Zaha said, forced since he didn't see a way to improve things.

"Moving some of the holy tribes into heaven would be preferable as well," Harudha said.

"Heaven has no earth, it's not exactly a welcoming location." Shiru looked up, though there was only the dark ceiling. "They can't live there."

"I'd say, Shiru, leave Elysium aside for now and worry about the other tribes. I shall see whether I can reach support from the angels of Imlé," Tzadkiel said. "I'll also see whether I can arrange some lands for Marduk and his people. Say, is Pazuzu still under that seal with Bahamut?"

"Yeah, he is," Ruth said.

"We'll work on that too. Zaha?"

"Fine, I'll talk to the demon tribes ... but ... is there any way I can do this without looking like the next evil overlord in Elysium's eyes?"

"Yes, you and Shiru could get married. That would really be good promotion for our holy demon peace efforts!" Yabbashael said happily.

He felt Shiru tense up, and he quite agreed, so he snapped, "We're getting married on our own therms, not yours."

Yabbashael's smile vanished and she blinked. "I just thought you would like to marry as soon as possible. Why not?"

Tzadkiel opened his mouth, but Harudha put her hand before it. "Not right away, and we won't force you. Anytime within the next year will do. Now let us digress and start with our first lesson."

"And what would that be?"

Yabbashael clapped her hands once. "Why, the first and foremost asset of any elemental angel, off course! Dragons! Elemental dragons help channel the energies of the realm, attend to the seasons and other shifting natural phenomena, and they're our military if we ever need one. If you're lucky like me, great architects too. You'll love what me and my dragons will do to this place!"

Lazai stood up. "Zaha, where is your dragon?"

"Up with Orthros," Zaha said. He whistled and almost at once Orthros came running into the halls. On his back was the Terror Dragon cub, clutching to the fur with newly grown tentacles. Zaha flew to them, petting Orthros on the heads before lifting the cub.

"What now?"

"Your lesson one is about controlling your dragon well enough to make it —"

"_Her_."

"— her perform specific spells on command."

"We could try the Black Hole first, perhaps?" Shiru suggested. "Rokuna said there might still be a monster stuck in there. How about we take a look?"

"Excellent idea!" said Tzadkiel as he jumped up. Zaha feared that Tzadkiel would turn out to be one of those childishly overenthusiastic people once he got to know him beyond "that big guy who hovers behind the fire angel".

"What kind of a monster are we looking for?" Harudha asked.

Shiru took to explaining. "Some sort of spirit named Narrator. The Mon Colle Knights say they sometimes heard him talk to them while in our world. I asked one of their friends about it, Beginner. She confirmed its existence and that he could even physically manifest. She didn't know of any True Name though and insisted he's just off somewhere behind the Fourth Wall, whatever that may be."

"Maybe the Fourth Wall is some barrier she is sensitive to, and she's noticing the spirit stuck inside the Black Hole?"

"Quite possible. The girl is well meaning but not all that aware of the world around her," Shiru said. "Zaha, do you think a True Name is needed to summon it?"

"According to her memories, Reda _could_, but whatever spell he used was silent and through his mask. I can't replicate it and she can't perform it herself." Now he mentioned memories, she recalled something specific. Someone had enchanted her to make sure that even if she wanted to liberate anyone, she could not effect it without command. There were an awful lot of spells in place to keep her a serviceable tool. Zaha decided to eventually fix that.

"Why don't you open it anyway?" Lazai said.

Zaha nodded. "Move out of the way, lest you're sucked in."

The other angels moved to the edge of the hall, while Zaha set down the cub before him.

"_Black Hole_!" he shouted. The spell moved the dark energy and he felt his power synchronize with the dragon.

Making an odd bubbly sound, the cub stretched her neck up. A tiny a tiny black hole whirled open above her head, barely half a meter wide.

The six angels and the one imp were back in range at once, easily able to resist the pathetic pull of the hole.

Tzadkiel scratched the back of his head yet again. "It's ... something."

Zaha cursed below his breath and the cub noticed his displeasure, but only managed to expand it till about a meter wide.

"That's all she can do? Oh dear, with those wings of his I believe we'll need to do some wrenching to get him through," Yabbashael muttered.

Harudha smiled and said, "I think lesson one will take all day, but it should be fairly simple. Here's your task, have her keep open the Black Hole for as long as it takes you the explore the inside of it."

"Hold it, what? The inside of it?"

"It's not infinite, I think, you can have a look around. We'll just tie something around you in case you get lost."

"I don't even know whether I can see inside, if there's anything to see, or what I'm looking for!"

"Unless Ruth here knows more than we do, this is our best shot to find that missing monster," Yabbashael said.

Zaha looked at Ruth, but the imp just shrugged and shook his head. "Got rope though."

Ruth produced said rope from his pocket dimension and started tying it around Zaha's arm. Tzadkiel took the other end.

Just wonderful. The start of his reign of (benevolent) darkness would start with diving into a tiny hole, tied to a rope.

**· · · · · · ·**


	3. The Holy God Of Serpents

**· · · · · · ·**

"How about we pass to the Mayateka ruins, unseal Coatl and bind him to you?" Harudha said.

Had Shiru been a more vocal person, she would have stammered or shouted, _what?_, but all she did was looked with wide eyes at the oceanic angel.

"Don't be so surprised. Coatl has been seen by many that day, so now he's no longer the _legendary_ god of serpents, but the _very tangible_ god of serpents. The very god of serpents who is _perceptible to mind control_. Wouldn't want some zealot rekindling any wars by siccing a holy god on the demons, do we?" Tzadkiel added in a cheery tone.

"Off course not, but — "

"Great! Since your trigger-happy boyfriend is presently not around to chop up said god if it look at you the wrong way, we figured we do it right now."

"I'm barely forty years old, you expect me to control an ancient dragon god?"

"Reda could do it. That silly Count figure even did it, from what I hear!"

"Reda has a special mask, had years of experience in mind control and only managed it for less than a minute! Count Collection used a machine, he wasn't perceptible to be counter mind controlled!"

"And you will have the Mon Colle Knights who undid all their plots," Harudha said with in a tone of absolute finality.

**· · · · · · ·**

When Shiru and Tzadkiel arrived at the ruined city, it was a the end of a monsoon day. A shower lingered on the horizon to the west, but Tzadkiel had kept the area around the ruins dry. The cloud cover was thin here, allowing a few rays of sunlight through, but these didn't do much to drive away the damp cold. If Shiru hadn't served as a rainbow angel — light management was closely related to atmospheric attitude — the cold would have been distracting.

"This area ought to be more tropical, what's going on?"

"I suspect Coatl has noticed our presence and is drawing in energy," Yabbashael said. "Let's hope it won't make a break for it."

"It ... do we even know a gender?"

"If you're worried you might offend it, don't," Tzadkiel said. "Monsters like Coatl don't care for curtsies despite their intelligence. You'll understand once you're connected."

At that moment, she heard a familiar hello called. Atop the pyramid, next to the stone serpent that was the seal, stood the waving Mon Colle Knights. As she descended to them, she also noticed the professor at the bottom of the ruin, apparently inspecting the engravings.

While Mondo looked as ever, but Rokuna was wearing an adapted variant of the school uniform that was telltale of a certain human academy. She'd kept the pants but shortened the skirt, likely because she did a lot of jumping around, and there was a sign of home made stitches. Shiru was about to compliment the girl on her customization when she said, "Zaha doesn't know about it, does he?"

"It's that obvious? Yes, he is currently not in a position to be told about it," Shiru said with a sigh. "~ Particularly because no angel told either him _or me _what the plan was. ~"

"You'd have told Zaha if we told you earlier," Tzadkiel said. "It was easier this way."

Mondo crossed his arms and glared up at the wind angel. "Not really a good start for cooperating, now is it?"

"Look, Mon Colle Knight, it's become awfully crowded around this area lately. Lots of curious travelers. We didn't exactly have time to convince Zaha to not be a problem."

"Have you tried trusting him?" Mondo said.

"We'll trust him to _mean _well, but not to be rational. Coatl is volatile to say the least, and so is Zaha," Yabbashael said.

When the children looked over to Shiru, seeking her words, she reluctantly said, "I'm with you on this, Mondo. However, the elemental angels have a point in someone needing to control Coatl now that everyone knows he is real."

She rather hated how this was played, to be honest, which did not help her doubt. Quietly, but with enough intention that she was sure Rokuna would pick up, she added, "~ I'm just not sure it should be me. ~"

"~ You're one of the elemental angels too, now, ~" Rokuna told her.

"~ Perhaps on energetic level, I am. But I have not been granted the transformation by heaven's mandate and its subsequent powers, and I have no experience with this task. ~"

"So what? We're the Saint Star children! We'll help you as often as we can! If anything, we're experts on spiritual links!" Mondo said with perfect confidence and neglect of privacy settings. Ah, so Rokuna had been sharing the words. Not that Shiru minded much right now.

Tzadkiel and Yabbashael looked confused.

"Conversations happen a lot quicker telepathically," Rokuna said. "Anyway, that's what we do, Shiru. Trust us."

The hint of sadness wasn't lost on Shiru, but she kept from commenting on it, or even thinking too much about the implications. Compared to Coatl, the Dryad's Children were not too problematic.

Professor Hiiragi finally came climbing up the wall, too excited to take the stairs. Shiru had learned that sometimes, humans from the other universe were weird like that, so she didn't comment on it.

"Ah, there you all are! So what exactly _will _we be doing?" he asked when he climbed on his feet.

"We're going to craft something as close as possible to a divine contract between angel and dragon," Tzadkiel said. "The bond between an angel and their elemental dragons cannot be broken, even if someone summons the dragon. That is why Reda never was able to use _Curse Circle _on any of them, we keep the _Dispel Magic _in standby at all times. This kind of contract is constant and versatile beyond a regular summoning contract."

"But Coatl isn't technically an elemental dragon," the professor said. "And you can't cast that contract here like in heaven."

"Not if we cast _Curse Circle _first," Tzadkiel said. "We also intend to transfer the seal that keeps it asleep, in case it really becomes a problem."

"You know _Curse Circle_ too, Shiru?" Mondo asked.

"In theory I've covered it with Arash, but not practiced," Shiru said, and just to defy the '_let's not ask people things_' motif of today she added, "You two will have to help me on this, so would you please merge with me?"

"Off course! That's why we came here!" Mondo said. His optimism was infectious and Shiru couldn't help but smile.

"Alright, if you are then I am ready. But first ..." she said as she looked at the wind and earth angels, "... a little extra security would be in place."

Yabbashael chirped, "Off course we can!" Raising her arms, three massive green circles appeared, each of which produced a dragon : the Emperor Earth Dragon, the Emerald Dragon and the Forest Dragon.

"No Stone Dragon, Mud Dragon or Diamond Dragon?" professor Hiiragi asked.

"I don't want to brag too much," Yabbashael said. Nah, she justed wanted to brag a little, or she'd have left Tzadkiel a chance to summon another dragon. As it stood, three dragons were all that could surround the pyramid without getting in each others way, and the sky above was guarded by the Storm Dragon.

Shiru took a deep breath and took a few steps away from the group. It wasn't really necessary, but it it gave her a sense of ritual. She was about to open her mind to two children and this wasn't something she was comfortable with. Her thoughts were her own, she preferred to keep her worries and weaknesses to herself. It benefited none to know them. Off course, that in itself was a feeling that she refused to let get in the way of what was necessary.

The Mon Colle Knights closed their eyes and were enveloped by a golden light. And then they were just gone with a flash towards her. Within her mind, she heard the echo of the chant, "_Adara ... Kadara ... Buu_!"

It was surprisingly anti-mystical. Nothing about herself changed, except ... Their presence slowly ebbed into her awareness and she now could see their astral forms aside of her.

"Wow, Shiru! You don't have that much power, but your magical dexterity is great!" Mondo said.

"If this impressed you, just wait until you merge with one of the four elder rulers. That said ..." She had expected an empowering sensation to set to the mergure. It was almost disappointing.

Rokuna giggled. "We think there's a magical cushion effect in place to avoid unsettling the monsters we merge with too much. That's probably why you don't notice much change yet. Just wait till the magic starts, you'll feel then!"

"Alright. Are you ready?" A useless question, she immediately realized. She could feel they were.

"Whenever you are!" Rokuna said anyway.

Shiru spread her wings and distanced herself from the pyramid, recalling how large the creature was. They didn't want to get squashed below it. Tzadkiel gave the professor a lift to the nearby airplane, then he took position opposite of Yabbashael at equal distance from the pyramid, close by the circle of dragons.

A surge of holy power welled up in the magic fields around her. They were right, this was a true difference, her power was so sharp and focused she felt ashamed of ever having thought her ordinary feats were commendable.

_"Porta Sacratum - Coatl!" _they called in unison. A golden circle flared open above the pyramid and right on the tail of the spell, they cast Curse Circle. Mondo and Rokuna provided the dark energy for it and together they seamlessly fused the energies.

The gate's center started to whirl with light, from which the first green scales emerged. At this moment did Yabbashael use her earth magic to knock over the structure of the seal. Between her, Tzadkiel and Shiru a wider sixgate formed, lifting the god's seal into the summoner's circle.

Coatl emerged with darkening skies and a wave of magic that silence all birds in the rainforest and for a devastating few seconds, the minds of Shiru and the Mon Colle Knights as well.

Mondo and Rokuna had never before been linked to any creature this ferocious. They always asked for permission, and so only bound to those who were their friends.  
>This creature had no concept of friendship, his instinct defined him as solitary.<p>

Coatl had wondered what they were doing, and Shiru inevitably had answered.

She had expected a lot of things, like double vision, sensory disorientation, but not this inability to hold secrets. Her mind was as open to him as his was to her ... why was there still a wall of privacy between her and the children, then?

No time to wonder, because this was when belated double sensory awareness hit. Shiru's eyes had some sense of magnetic fields, but it was nothing compared to the radius Coatl had.

She saw herself through his eyes, so tiny and fragile. He could kill her simply by knocking his wing against her hard enough, to say nothing of the vast magic he held. Burn her up in fire, squash her into the earth, drown her in the waters, suffocate her with stolen wind, turn the light inside against herself. So many ways to kill her, and every reason to do it. If he succeeded, he would be free.

"He's deliberately making it difficult," Rokuna said. "Don't listen to the threats, he knows he can't move beyond the circle with the pyramid's seal still active. Focus on what he sees, we'll keep orientation from our point of view."

"Hey, he _does_ have affinity to the demon element after all," Mondo said, "He just doesn't care for it since all of its unique traits pertain to the mind."

Shiru ignored the memories he sent her of eating living creatures and showed a little smile. "Well, that gives me an angle. We're going to use his own energy against him. With three of us representing one being, we should be able to cast three spells at the same time and do so with his energy."

"You got it!" Mondo reached out through the contract and invoked Coatl's latent affinity to darkness, while Rokuna focused on a feed of holy magic. Here, Shiru brought in _Darkness Illusion._

The world turned brighter as Shiru held a perfectly round white sphere between her hands. Cracks of black electricity surrounded it, slowly building demon energy ... it was not unlike art. Instead of light, she panted with knowledge and magic. Despite the dread Coatl fed her through the link, there was something truly exhilarating about it.

Amidst the intense weaving, the physical world had hardly moved. Coatl hovered in the sky above the pyramid, eyes unblinkingly on the tiny angel. Only when Shiru released the sphere did he finally move. Violently he drew back, collided with a barrier of the seal around him and tried to rise up. The Storm Dragon cast a ray of lightning, which Coatl countered with a fireflare. But that moment of distraction was all that was needed for the Darkness Illusion to home in.

When the god felt his primary source of power cut off, the already growing rage turned lethal and shattered what little patience he had. He no longer cared that Mondo and Rokuna had once preserved the world or that he had once willingly sided with Shiru to aid them. They were taking his freedom and so he hated.

The seal started closing in, but his mind absolutely refused to submit, and until he did there was no true contract. He curled back down, mouth wide opened to rain down fire on Shiru.

She felt the rush of the magnetizing air around her, sharp on her wings and skin. If she had needed words to raise a barrier they would have been hit full force, but instead the foce cracked around a last minute shield that the Mon Colle Knights raised.

Finding another obstacle, Coatl paused a mere twenty meters from his prey. Narrow black pupils bore down on them, the head so small compared to the body was the size of a whale. Shiru could not be anything but intimidated, and she acknowledged that feeling lest it hinder her even more.

The bond went two ways. He knew what he did to her, to _them_. She backed up the children as much as they supported her.

Within this moment, she could see his terrifying simplicity.

Coatl had no companions, no need for ideals or affections, only his instincts, desires and a sharp awareness of the world around him. The details that Shiru saw in the forest and the weather were irrelevant. The concept of beauty didn't even puzzle him, it was discarded and he was almost offended she cared for it. To him, what mattered was only the power of the elements and the scent of prey.

Shiru had never faced such an amoral creature. Even Reda had held a twisted ethical system, one that virtually the opposite of her own, but she had found it easy to argue against. Coatl however had no use for or interest in arguments, view points or even purpose. He had the ability to reason, his aid to the Saint Star Dragon had proved so, but that was only because it was natural for him to defend his territory.

When she realized he was more like a force of nature than an individual — or what she saw as individuality — that was the first time he truly spoke to her.

Wordless mockery accompanied acute awareness of just how small she was compared not to Coatl, but the world in all directions, sky above, time in past and future.

As if it were news to her.

She gave a wasted smile, more for herself than the creature before her. Small before her mother, inconsequential in the war, unable to save her brother and she was to tremor before this primitive sense of superiority?

One thing she had that Coatl did not : intricacy. Inadvertently he mocked him in return : wasn't he held in place by a weaving of lesser powers? Could he blow up what he couldn't see or feel? Break a complexity it never had bothered to understand? The wall around her mind grew thicker, blinding him where she could still see.

Slowly, the god pulled his head back. Though the sky remained dark, its power ebbed to peace and his wings folded a little.

The deal was considered, his obedience in exchange for a relative freedom.

There was no definite answer, no oath or vow or promise. No duration given, she would have to prove herself over and over in face of his newborn hatred. However, for now, his instinct for freedom folded that feeling back up and placed it on hold. To the right was an earth angel, who could use her powers to restore the detached seal within seconds and there were dragons who could hurl single but strong attacks at him.

So be it.

"That's it?" Mondo said, evident disappointment echoing through Shiru. "I thought there was going to be an epic acknowledgment of you as its master."

"Even binding tiny Vesper to Zaha was more dramatic," Rokuna said. Then again, that one had a far more dramatic stage.

"We have one more thing to do, actually," Shiru told them. In her mind she showed what Yabbashael and Tzadkiel were about to do.

"Ah!" Rokuna said. "Perfect, we'll cement the spells into its new form that way!"

Shiru nodded at the two other angels, and they started a chant that narrowed the outer circle around Coatl. The inner summoning circle had not yet faded entirely, and it merged with the outer one.

Coatl hesitated, but Shiru stressed that if he wanted his freedom, that was the bind he had to take. He gave her a look, then with exagerated slowness curled over his own back and down through the circle.

"~ Shiru, name him! ~" Tzadkiel called.

"_Quetzalcoatl_!"

Shiru felt an unknown force draw into her mind and imagination. There was a natural template of reason to follow, but it was hers to color. Well, she was the rainbow spinning angel for a reason. As Coatl's body transformed, muscles strengthened and shape became superior channel to magic, his colors changed to Shiru's vision.

No monochrome emerged, the ascended dragon was thickly scaled in lime and sea green over a moss belly, a tin row of golden scales separating them. Purple feathered jutted from head to tail. Most telling was the change in his wings, going from once dull green to a butterfly-rich array of greens, yellows and black, tipped with orange blotches.

Rokuna clasped astral hands together. "It's beautiful! We should paint together some time!"

"Aww, like I need to be left in the dust even more," Mondo said, laughing nevertheless.

Shiru couldn't quite share the wonder of the children, because she was rapidly becoming tired. When she landed, the feeling of grass beneath her bare feet was a little more alien now, a little more distant. Coatl's overpowering presence robbed some of her focus, she felt the pyramid as he lowered himself and curled around it.

Coatl waited for Mondo and Rokuna to separate from her and exploit a potential weakness in her power. However, the spells stayed in place even after the children emerged in the physical world.

"It would be kinda awkward to say victory of justice now, right? We didn't really win a battle," Mondo said. "And we don't know yet whether Coatl is actually going to behave."

"You can do it if you'd like to, I don't mind," Shiru said.

"Nah, we'll save it for later," Rokuna said. She held up a hand to give a little support to Shiru, who was threatening just lose her balance.

Yabbashael and Tzadkiel landed at their side.

"Well done," Yabbashael said cheerfully. "But I think he's a little too large yet. Let me fix that." She raised a glowing sphere in her palm and Coatl shrunk in accordance to her magic. In the end, he was a mere ten meters long.

"I could make him smaller, but for now it's probably better he can't creep away in any small spaces, like those in your observatory."

Through her, he tried to listen to Yabbashael's words. This was an unknown experience for him, he had never needed to pay attention to details before. Now it mattered because he wanted out and did not understand enough.

This meant spoken language was lost on him, not even the translating magic of the world helped. He really was an animal, albeit a very intelligent one.

He let her knew he was of the age before magic changed the world. What did that mean?

He didn't care to tell. Perhaps though, he expected, she would learn to force him.

**· · · · · · ·**


End file.
